AMERICAS - Vancouver in Canada has won its bid to host the International Ornithological Congress in 2018 The event is expected to attract 2 000 bird scientists and was last held in Canada in 1986 when it took place it Ottawa Vancouvers natural beauty and its waterfront conference centre were said to be big factors in the winning bid as well as a strategy that aims to expand and diversify birdlife in the city by making parks more attractive and buildings less dangerous for birds The policy was formally adopted only recently but a detailed draft plan was in circulation last year when Robert Elner a scientist emeritus with Environment Canada led Vancouvers delegation to Tokyo where the congress held its last conference Id done a programme with Tourism Vancouver on how to bring big events to Vancouver how to stage it and what support was there So when the opportunity came up to put a bid in for this they worked with me very closely Elner said We went into it in a very big way with a lot of local support because this bid is highly competitive